Sunday, September 30, 2007

Penguin Ice Cream Scoop



Penguin Ice Cream Scoop

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Use this adorable penguin ice cream scoop and have your friends and family screaming with glee. The scoop comes attractively packaged and will make an enjoyable gift.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Emperor Penguin Mascot Costume



Emperor Penguin Mascot Costume

one of the highest quality Mascot costumes designed and produced in the United States. Uniquely designed, manufactured, and hand painted by skilled artisans.

All mascot heads are constructed with semi-rigid foam sandwiched between two layers of natural latex. This design allows for flexibility that prevents against breakage should it be accidentally dropped.

Additionally, extensive research has gone into the design to provide the best vision, ventilation, and comfort possible. All mascot heads come equipped with a free motorized fan installed inside the head and additional ventilation panels for easy breathing.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Magallanes Rockhopper population reaches 316 thousand

Scientists reported this week that the population of Southern Rockhopper penguins on Isla Noir, in southern Chile, the most important colony for the Eudyptes chrysocom family in all of South America, has risen to 316 thousand. Environmentalists stressed the importance of this increase in population, especially in light of the drop in the species’ population in previous decades.

The overall decline of the world’s penguin population began in the middle of the 19th century when the European whaling industry devastated the species by using their eggs and meat for food. In 1860 the reward for a captured penguin was so lucrative that in just three years hunters managed to kill around 500,000 penguins.

Best known for their large, yellow crests, the Southern Rockhopper has been able to live on Isla Noir, Magallanes Region, close to Punta Arenas, in relative isolation due to the heavy rain and winds that are typical of the island. The penguins occupy a large area – 15 km long by 3 km wide – on the peripheries of the island’s southern canals. This area is extremely conducive to their reproductive habits, as the penguins are known to nest in highly vegetated areas that are difficult to reach.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Snow Hill Island Emperors



Source: Cincinnati Enquirer
Photo credit: Larry Flinner

Video: Rave dancing penguin

da penguin is a really good dancer

(via)

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Sentinels for a lost world

Some of climate's best canaries are turning out to be penguins. Down the mine, an upturned songbird in a cage was the first warning of a deadly gas seep. Above ground, an age of fossil fuels later, there are different silences.

In the sub-Antarctic, king penguins fledge fewer chicks if the parents must forage in warming seas. Rising waters are swamping limited nesting space for African penguins in Namibia.

But it's on the the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula that the signal is clearest. The raucous cacophony of Adelie penguins has disappeared from the landscape as colonies collapse.

"There are no sounds but the wash of the sea, the occasional calls of skuas."

"Every penguin is gone, the nests are abandoned. Listen to the silence. The silence of absence. The sound of failure."

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

St Croix penguins in ‘dismal‘ state as population plunges

Scientists reported a sharp drop over four months in the African penguin population on St Croix Island, and heavy gull predation on abandoned nests.

The report comes in the wake of Marine and Coastal Management‘s (MCM) warning in April that African penguin numbers were sliding across its range but that the situation was worst in Algoa Bay.

Dr Isabelle Papadopoulos, an estuarine ecologist working at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, said last week she had made the observation while assisting a Belgian colleague.

“The numbers seemed to be right down from what we observed in January and the birds looked very thin and were not their normal active selves. It was dismal,” she said.

“A lot of nests were abandoned and gulls were feasting on eggs and small chicks.”

Monday, September 24, 2007

Penguin Love



(via)

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Penguin Butt Golf Club Cover


Penguin Butt Golf Club Cover

This Butthead Golf Head Cover - Penguin is the only golf club head cover that's also a head turner! The award winning Butthead™ headcovers continue to be one of the hottest items on the market. Recognized at last year's PGA Golf Show as the #1 new golf accessory of the year, they are continuing with this success and have added in many new and hilarious animal rearends. Protect your golf clubs from damage and the elements while adding a little personality to your drivers.

Penguin Golf Club Cover


Penguin Golf Club Cover

No numbers so that they can be put on any sized metal wood.
Fun for any age and makes a great gift for family, friends and relatives

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Punta Tombo Penguins

Punta Tombo is a narrow, rocky strip that extends over 3.5 km into the sea and is surrounded by the typical arid and lonely landscape of the Patagonia plateau. This strip hosts the largest colony of Magellanic penguins known all over the world, with approximately half a million animals (approximately 200 thousand mating pairs). One of the most important attractions in this Reserve is the possibility of walking amongst the penguins in their habitat and of interacting with them though without disturbing them.

The birds arrive in this place annually to nest, mate, hatch their chicks and shed their feathers so that they can set out back to northeastern South America and cyclically come back to Punta Tombo the following year.

Watch the Punta Tombo PENGUINS LIVE

Friday, September 21, 2007

Penguin mp3 player


iBird 1000

OLED screen, FM tuner, voice recorder and integrated speaker, LED-blinking eyes, moving beak.

- iBird's mouth MOVES as it sings the lyrics!

- iBird's eyes Blink and Have LED light

- iBird's belly displays the song lyrics

- iBirds come in 5 different Colors...

(via)

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Art by Marcus Pfister


"Penguin Pete Sleeps"

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

USB Penguin Optical Mouse


USB Penguin Optical Mouse

This USB Optical Mouse looks like a penguin. It comes with four colors - Black, Pink, Green and Blue. It is cutie and comfortably fit for left or right hand user.

(via)

Please, no more sweaters!

The Hampstead office of Hilary Blume, founder and director of the Charities Advisory Trust, has for the past few months been quietly overrun with one of the world's largest collection of hand-knitted penguin jumpers.

Intended for the 15-inch-high Australian fairy penguin, the jumpers - picture oversized fingerless gloves - prevent the birds from pecking at, and then swallowing, the toxic oil that can coat their bodies after oil spills.

But because oil tankers have recently acquired the ability to function without disaster, the almost 800 jumpers continue to pile up with nowhere to go.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Zebra crossing for penguins

The Living Coasts in Torquay, Devon, is home to a colony of 80 African penguins which regularly uses a public thoroughfare during feeding time. The crossing has been put down to show visitors where the penguins cross the public walkway and to emphasize the need to take care.



The penguins have now learned to use the crossing and are a regular sight waddling across the road in line as they make their way from Penguin Beach to meet a keeper.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Book on Penguins Tops `Challenged' List

Not all penguin stories are equal in the public's mind.

And Tango Makes Three, an award-winning children's book based on a true story about two male penguins who raised a baby penguin, topped the American Library Association's annual list of works attracting the most complaints from parents, library patrons and others.

"And Tango Makes Three," by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, was published in 2005 and named by the ALA as one of the year's best children's books. But parents and educators have complained that "Tango Makes Three" advocates homosexuality, with challenges reported in Southwick, Mass., Shiloh, Ill., and elsewhere.

The ALA defines a "challenge" as a "formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness." For every challenge listed, about four to five go unreported, according to the library association. Krug said 30 books were actually banned last year.

"Books aren't banned nearly as much now as they used to be, because communities are much more active in fighting that," Krug said about the bans, which can lead to books being removed from both school and public libraries.

Monday, September 3, 2007

New England Aquarium seeks to conserve species

Every summer, the New England Aquarium babies a handful of penguin chicks, to support its own penguin population, and - in a crisis - the world's. This year, the nursery has been particularly busy, with a record nine chicks, two Little Blue penguins and seven Africans.


The chicks eat 10 percent of their weight every morning and again every night.

"Right now they're so hungry they'll eat anything you put in front of them," laughed Heather Urquhart, senior aquarist, as five chicks wearing colored bands on their wings jostled and squeaked while she rotated the feeding among them.

"You can see why they grow from the size of a jumbo chicken egg to the size of an adult penguin in 80 days."

The aquarium breeds penguins as part of the Species Survival Program, a cooperative project among the penguin programs at zoos and aquariums across the country.

The program seeks to conserve penguin species by working cooperatively to breed the animals.

The program maintains a stud book, or extended family tree of sorts, mapping out the lineage of every penguin in captivity. With such detailed information, specialists are able to decide which penguins should and should not be paired to provide a strong and diversified genetic pool.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Little penguins could be hit by channel deepening


A member of St Kilda's little penguin colony makes a dash across the sand. Researchers fear that proposed dredging in Port Phillip Bay will affect the colony.

Photo: Joe Armao

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Itchy



(via)